The present invention relates to a backpack. More particularly, the invention relates to a multipurpose, unitary aircraft crew backpack for bailout and survival.
The entrance door to the Grumman E-2C, which is also the bailout door, is on the left side of the aircraft just forward and below the wing. The door folds out to become steps for ingress and egress and is jettisoned for bailout. There are two ditching hatches in the pilots' compartment over the two pilots. There is a ditching hatch in the C.I.C. compartment that is aft of the wing on the right hand side. At the present time, all parachute assemblies consist only of parachutes and function only as parachutes. The provision of any additional function would require hanging a kit from the parachute assembly, as shown in FIG. 1. The procedure during bailout is to jettison the bailout door and for the crew and pilots to disconnect themselves from their seats, activate their emergency oxygen system if required, get up out of their seats with all of their survival gear, move to the bailout door as quickly as possible and bailout. In the ditching scenario, after the aircraft comes to rest, the crewman disconnects from the parachute/survival kit assembly, turns around, time permitting, extracts the survival kit from beneath the seat cushion, throws the survival kit out of the open hatch, and exits the aircraft.
There are a number of problems with bailing out of an aircraft such as the Grumman E-2C. The aircraft is packed with electronic gear and therefore has only a minimum aisle at the center of the aircraft, adjacent the bailout door. Headroom in this aircraft is such that some stooping is required when going through a hatchway or when moving around outside the main center aisle, where there is the most headroom. Because of this, getting up out of the seat is somewhat restricted and the crewman must be careful to go through the bailout egress in a positive manner and carefully get up out of the seat with all of his survival equipment, turn in the right direction and move quickly to the bailout door. When the crewman gets up out of the seat, he must rise up sufficiently to extract the cushion and survival kit assembly completely out of the seat bucket, then turn around (pilots' compartment), move past the steering column, get to the aisle and exit the aircraft. The seat pan assembly of the prior art stores the survival kit and hangs down from the parachute pack and hits the legs of the wearer behind the knees and makes walking difficult. The total weight of this parachute/survival kit assembly is about 52 pounds. If the aircraft flight cannot be controlled sufficiently during bailout, it can be very difficult for a man to get out of the seat and egress the aircraft with this heavy, bulky equipment hanging from his back.
The principal object of the invention is to provide a new and improved aircraft crew unitary backpack for bailout and survival.
An object of the invention is to provide a multipurpose, unitary aircraft crew backpack for bailout and survival.
Another object of the invention is to provide a unitary backpack for aircraft crewmen which stores a parachute and survival equipment in a single pack.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an aircraft crew multipurpose, unitary backpack which includes a standard parachute and adds other survival equipment without increasing the size of the backpack.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an aircraft crew multipurpose, unitary backpack which is sufficiently compactly packaged to better facilitate emergency egress from an aircraft.
Another object of the invention is to provide a multipurpose aircraft crew backpack which is lighter in weight than known backpacks for aircraft crewmen.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a multipurpose, unitary aicraft crew backpack of smaller volume than known backpacks which, when mounted on a wearer extends along his back from shoulders to buttocks and which stores bailout and survival equipment.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an aircraft crew multipurpose, unitary backpack of simple structure, which is bendable, to add to the comfort of the wearer.
Another object of the invention is to provide an aircraft crew multipurpose, unitary backpack which, when worn, permits the wearer to walk normally, without obstruction.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an aircraft crew unitary backpack housing a parachute and survival equipment, which backpack is lighter in weight and smaller in volume than known backpacks, of simple structure and bendable, to add to the comfort of the wearer.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an aircraft crew multipurpose, unitary backpack which, when mounted on a wearer extends along his back from shoulders to buttocks, thereby permitting the wearer to walk normally, without obstruction, while in an aircraft and stores equipment for descent after bailout and survival upon and after descent.